SPOTLIGHT

 

History professor involved in PBS documentary airing Feb. 20

Phil Tiemeyer, associate professor of history and author of award-winning book Plane Queer: Labor, Sexuality, and AIDS in the History of Male Flight Attendants, was interviewed and served as historical advisor for the documentary, “Fly with Me,” scheduled to air at 8 p.m. (CST) Feb. 20 on PBS.

“Fly with me” tells the story of the pioneering women who became flight attendants at a time when single women were unable to order a drink, eat alone in a restaurant, own a credit card or get a prescription for birth control. The job offered unheard-of opportunities for travel and independence. These women were on the frontlines of the battle to assert gender equality and transform the workplace.

“[Flight attendants were] being marketed, basically, as a Barbie doll, and yet doing more and more complex work,” said Tiemeyer. “There’s a fundamental incompatibility between these two things.”

Watch PBS’s “Fly with Me” trailer.

 

2016 ArtSci grad named 2024 Distinguished Young Alum

 

Modern languages and political science graduate Jill Applegate ’16 is one of two 2024 Distinguished Young Alumni named by the K-State Alumni Association. Applegate is currently a Skadden Fellow at the Neighborhood Defender Service. After studying at K-State, she earned a juris doctor from the University of Texas at Austin.

Of the things she learned at K-State, she had this to say:

“I even had the privilege of learning about migration from immigrant farm workers themselves while working as a research assistant for Alisa Garni in the sociology department, which was an invaluable opportunity to put names and faces to what I was learning in the classroom.”

Read her full interview with the Alumni Association.